Susannah continued to package the books in her own home.  Every two weeks a full cartload of volumes left for the railroad station en route to many different destinations.  Susannah sometimes carried out this ministry in weakness and pain. But she felt more than compensated by the rich blessings the ministry brought both to her and to others.

Throughout much of her married life Charles Spurgeon’s wife, Susannah, was a semi-invalid.  For long periods at a time she was confined to her home and was not well enough to attend services at the Metropolitan Tabernacle where her husband preached.  But she longed to be useful to the Lord and of service to others.

In 1875 Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students was published.  After reading the book, Susannah said to her husband, “I wish I could send a copy to every minister in England!” “Then why not do it?” he replied.  “How much will you give?”

For quite some time she had been in the habit of saving every five-shilling piece that had come to her.  (Each five-shilling coin was worth one-quarter of a pound.)  Using these savings, she had just enough to purchase 100 copies of the Lectures and to send them out to needy pastors.

Susannah assumed that was the end of the matter but God had much bigger plans in mind for her charitable ministry.  Though Susannah did not permit Spurgeon to mention what she had done, news of her donations quickly spread, and friends started contributing money so she could send out more books.  She ordered a number of sets of Spurgeon’s multi-volume commentary on the Psalms, The Treasury of David, and sent those out to disadvantaged ministers.

Donations for her Book Fund and requests for books from straitened pastors began to pour in.  These gifts and requests came from individuals in a variety of denominations and independent church settings.  In less than half a year she had sent out over 3,000 books.

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